Seriously, Dooley, don't make me destroy you

Da'Rick Rogers on his recent visit to Tennessee, from The AJC:

Rogers reported that he was very impressed with new coach Derek Dooley, his coaching assemblage and, of course, the Volunteers’ football program.

The Peanut Butter Kid, a Georgia Bulldog

I can't decide if this is awesome, or a debacle.

The above link is to ESPN. This is rom Deadspin:

Why this kid would cover himself in PB became crystal clear as the seconds on the clocked ticked down and UGA was about to wrap up its first win vs. a top 10 team at home since the Jim Harrick era. The students were reminded to NOT rush the court. ... As he rushed the court there wasn't a security guard or police officer willing to go anywhere near this kid.

...

Mohs: "It's like that t-shirt you had years ago: 'Producing the best educated alcoholics since 1785.'"

Lucid Idiocy endorsed: Cholula

It's generally better than anything you can put it on. Everything in life should be so easy.


Also, the new Chili Lime sauce, which I'm pretty sure you can just drink right out of the bottle.

Derek Dooley, if you steal Da'Rick Rogers, we're going to have problems

Consider yourself warned.

AJC: Da'Rick Rogers, Nash Nance to visit Knoxville.

Orson Charles for outside linebacker

Also acceptable: Someone "like" Orson Charles.

Still excited enough about Todd Grantham and the 3-4 to be rereading teleconference notes - > me.

Grantham on his message to recruits:

"My initial message is, if you're excited about being an aggressive defense, about being coached extremely hard, being technically sound at your craft -- because really as a player, you're trying to develop your craft -- and if you're excited about enhancing your performance and developing your craft, then you're going to have fun at the University of Georgia."

The situation in Haiti

Obviously you don't need me to tell you about the situation in Haiti right now.

But I happened a February 2009 copy of The Economist, with this article about the situation then:

THERE is a new lake outside Gonaïves, a town of 300,000 people and the fourth-largest in Haiti. It blocks the road south to the capital, Port-au-Prince. It formed last autumn when four storms, three of them hurricanes, swept over the poorest country in the Americas in the space of a month. The rain—a metre’s worth on one night alone—fell on saturated mountains, long since denuded of their forest cover, and swept down on to the coastal plain. It seemed a modest victory that only 793 people died, compared with 3,000 killed by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.

Five months later, bulldozers have cleared the mud from the main streets of Gonaïves. Away from them, on countless side streets, pedestrians look down on rooftops on either side. The houses have been dug out by hand, and the dirt piled in mounds on the roadway.

Only 20% of the town has been cleaned up, estimates Olivier Le Guillou of Action Contre la Faim, a French charity, which has paid 1,800 residents to help do the job. The damage was not confined to Gonaïves. Haiti’s agriculture minister reckons that 60% of the harvest was lost and 160,000 goats were killed, along with 60,000 pigs and 25,000 cows. In all, the storms have cost the country $900m, or 14.6% of GDP, according to a donor-funded government study. That is equivalent to 12 times the damage of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and comes just four years after Jeanne wiped out 7% of Haiti’s GDP.

You must subscribe to read the whole article. Perhaps the people at The Economist will not complain if you simply buy a newstand copy of their magazine soon instead, or donate something to relief or rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

It strikes me that in Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue called this week for an extra $300 million a year for transportation projects, for the next 10 years.

If just one of those years were spent on Haiti, you would sit in roughly the same metro Atlanta traffic for a marginally longer period of time, and an area of Port-au-Prince could be rebuilt, probably by Georgia companies.

I'm not saying, I'm saying that's an amazing difference in living conditions for the span of 800 miles. This earthquake has the potential to be a real call for positive change in Haiti.

The 3-4 comes to Georgia

The bottom line before I read up on Coach Todd Grantham coming to Georgia was that this was Richt's choice.

After reading a bit some of Coach Grantham's comments, I'm excited, even though I doubt we have the personel right now to run a really good 3-4 defense. But we need linebackers, period.

From David Hale for The Telgraph:

"We'll be a 3-4 structure which basically means that in your base defense you'll have two outside backers, three d linemen, two inside backers and your secondary would be the same whether you're a 3-4 or a 4-3 with two safeties and two corners. But saying that, we're more of an aggressive style 3-4. We're going to play one-gap defense. We're going to attack block up front. We're going to rush the passer. Our outside backers are going to be what we call edge-setters. They're going to be aggressive. They're going to be coming.

"Also, those outside backers will be 6'4", 240 pound killing machines."

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Lane Kiffin is dangerous

This Lane Kiffin situation has been a laugh riot for the most part. But if it ends with Tennessee actually hiring Will Muschamp, I'm going to be super pissed.

Media: Is it a fair question for people to wonder if you're a good head coach?

Kiffin: We blew out Georgia.

Fare thee well, Rennie Curran

Man, I hate to see you go. You have been the man.

And the 2010 defensive depth chart takes another major hit.

Orson Charles for all positions

Why stop at Richard Samuel?

If I could I would play Orson Charles at defensive end, linebacker and tight end, all at the same time. And possibly the wildcat.

Coach Richt is probably not going to do that. Is it time for Bruce Figgins, listed at 260 pounds, or Arthur Lynch at 250, to play some defensive line?

Joe: And Logan Gray for scout team qb.

I am tired of not even having to make fun of you

For it's promotional commercial during the Orange Bowl, Georgia tech chose to highlight, on national television, the fact that it runs a tricycle race every year.

Dawgs whip Jackets, 73-66

Well done, well done.


Scoreboard picture: Brian Huff.

Near the end of the radio broadcast, Scott Howard said the Hoop Dawgs haven't lost to Georgia tech in Athens since 1976. Considering the last decade or so of Georgia basketball, that's pretty staggering.

And awesome.

11:55 Update: Highlights from this game were just the No. 10, 5 and 2 top plays on ESPN. To be fair, though, only numbers five and two highlighted Travis Leslie.

"Rough night to be a Georgia tech fan, I'll just say that."
- Scott Van Pelt

Also, Georgia tech lost the Orange Bowl.

Samuel, Jones and the 2010 depth chart

Richard Samuel, not moving to linebacker? C'mon, man. Not only are you a linebacker, you are a 2010 starting linebacker.

Reshad Jones is headed to the NFL. I wish you luck Reshad, by which I mean I hope none of the NFL scouts discover any tape of you tackling prior to 2009.

Mr. Jones' departure leaves us with a depth issue at safety. Quintin Banks has been injured for most of his career at Georgia, which is a shame because I had high hopes for him.

Bacarri Rambo is solid at one safety spot. Then you've got Sanders Commings and Makiri Pugh, assuming neither plays cornerback, which is no guarantee given our issues there.

This out-of-date depth chart lists few other options. John Knox transferred to GMC earlier this year. It would be nice to get him back, though if I remember the tenor when he left, I'm not betting on it.

Then there's incoming freshman Alec Ogletree (video), our most exciting safety recruit since Reshad Jones, if you discount the fact that Bacarri Rambo's name is Bacarri Rambo.

I think we've had some recruiting misses at linebacker. We seem to have some studs coming up at defensive tackle, but they will be young. We're losing five tackles, three of whom will probably play in the NFL.

The secondary could have a real addition by subtraction feel to it, but that's nothing to bank on. Throw in the fact that we'll be breaking in new coaches, and maybe a new system, and there are easily more questions on the 2010 defense than any time I can remember in the Richt era.

Update: Good point in the comments - "We have JuCo All American Safety Jakar Hamilton coming in too." Excellent.

Georgia tech: Crazy for Swayze

The bike rack, the rain and the moving at 70 mph make it a little hard to tell, but, yes, that is a tire cover that says "Crazy for Swayze." And that is a Georgia tech license plate.

"A suicide bomber has detonated on our position"

Josh Darnell, a 1994 Georgia graduate and Army lieutenant, wrote a story for this month's issue of Georgia Magazine:

I lift my head and see a soldier on the ground in front of me, bloodstains forming on his shredded uniform. I whisper a feverish, incoherent prayer, the gist of which is, “Not here. Not like this.” A “Let me see my wife again” slips in there somewhere.

I wiggle my toes inside of my boots, and realize I can move. An attempt to swing my right leg around is met with sharp pain and a crunching sensation, so I try to plant my hands to lift myself off the ground. The left one responds, the right one lays impudently in the dirt.

“You okay, sir?” shouts Sergeant Christopher Styron, a 1st platoon team leader. The best I can say is “I don’t know.” He hoists me to my feet. My right arm hangs dead at my side while my right leg drags in the dirt, unable to swing at the hip. He puts me on the back of an ATV next to another soldier who is unconscious but still breathing.

For the first time, I behold the entire surreal scene. Bodies, uniformed and civilian, are scattered about the street, most of them writhing or struggling to their feet. Several lay terrifyingly still. Several shops on the southern side of the street burn silently. A suicide bomber has detonated on our position. Twenty-three civilians are dead or wounded. Fourteen of my soldiers are injured—three of them fatally.

We speed toward the company outpost. I lean my head back and watch the blue sky as I resume my whispered prayers. Within minutes, the company aid station is the cacophonous epitome of controlled chaos. The most seriously injured, including myself, are moved inside to await evacuation by helicopter. Other soldiers and civilians are on stretchers and blankets in the gravel outside. Medics strip our burned and blood-soaked uniforms away with trauma shears, start intravenous fluids, apply tourniquets, and curse the helicopters for not being there yet.

Staff Sergeant Lester Medina, Charlie Company’s chief medic, darts from patient to patient. Medina, a die-hard Crimson Tide fan, used to joke that he would let me bleed to death unless I publicly stated that ’Bama was better than Georgia.

“I won’t say it, Medina,” I tell him through gritted teeth. “Don’t even ask.”

Georgia now 2-3 against Texas A&M

Excellent.

Dawgs all time v. Texas A&M: 1-3-0

From the 2003 media guide:

1950: 20-40 in College Park
1953: 12-14 in Dallas
1954: 0-6 in Athens
1980 42-0 in Athens

Update: Tommy is right in the comments, I had the wrong score for the 1980 game. Post now corrected.

Blog position: Don't trust a word he says

He's addicted to glory.
- Joe Petersen

More cracker jack analysis following Urban Meyer's press conference and subsequent ESPN sit down. A blog in progress.

Joe: It sounds like he stood up there Sunday at bowl practice and watched his empire in action and got a hard on. And he said, "I want some more of this."

Me: But how much are Jeremy Foley or Bernie Machen controlling this situation now? Is one of those guys the emperor? Because that's the one who must be killed.

From the press conference:

Q. Also, the leave of absence option, that was on the table from the beginning and you decided not to take it originally?

COACH URBAN MEYER: That’s correct. It was our president was the first person that brought it up, and I understand it’s happened before I think in college basketball. I didn’t know that. University of Florida is so different; the relationship that we have with our president is unbelievable. The relationship obviously I have with Jeremy, this is not a it’s a very open we talk about everything. And some people that are very close to me advised me, just step away for a little bit. They could see the distress that was going on, step away for a moment. So the option was there from day one.

Waiting on the ESPN sit down. Getting peanuts in preperation ...

1:03 am update: If I'd had a drink for every time ESPN has advertised this Meyer interview but not shown it, I'd of had about as many drinks as I've had.

1:11 am, this gem has aired. Meyer to ESPN:

"Well I asked each (member) of (my family). I went for walks with each one of them. .. And my oldest daughter Nicole got a little emotional. ... I said I don't know, maybe just, this is it.

"I wanted to be a father more than I want to be a coach. ... See volleyball games, and, I mean, that's my world. I lost touch with that for a little while. ...

"The whole year I've been experiencing chest pains. ... (I'd) tell our doctors, you know, 'something's wrong, something's wrong.' ... (After the SEC Title game) I had an episode where I got out of bed and felt a pain like I've never felt and I lost consciousness and went to the hospital.

"(I'd be looking at my family), but I'd be thinking about, you know, third down and six.

"(The next day) you start getting the 'what ifs,' you know, 'what did I do?' .. Got out to work. ... and I walk into the stadium and its cold. ...

"I was fearful that we would turn it over to someone that would change our program. ... and I couldn't live with that. That would destroy me."

Credited at the end for his decision? "Prayer, my wife and Jeremy."

Instant analysis:

Shawn: Did you get healthier? No.

Me: So, we agree, the opposite of what he said was important is what he did?

Joe: Maybe. He just told us how to destroy him.

So this guy's just going to keep being Florida's head coach

If you'd have told me a week ago that I'd be finding new ways to hate Urban Meyer, I'd of asked you if he was going to stab my family.

Gator Country has at least a partial transcript up from Meyer's press conference today:

Q: Coach, you talked a lot about having gut feelings about things. In your gut do you think you’re going to be the coach of this football team come fall?

COACH URBAN MEYER: I probably knew that question was coming. I do in my gut believe that will happen.

Q: I just wanted to make sure I got this right in my head. Did the doctors ever specifically advise you that you need to step away from coaching?

COACH URBAN MEYER: I’d rather not get into that.

Q: There are reports that you had a heart attack. Did that ever happen?

COACH URBAN MEYER: No.

This son of a bitch did exactly what I was afraid he'd do. Billy Donovan. Jeremy Foley. Bernie Machen.

Joe: Why do you think he did this? Is he just jealous of Lane Kiffin?

Me: I don't know. Presumably he's got some health issue. But he doesn't strike me as indecisive.

Joe: Surely you don't do that on a whim. Just decide, "I'm going to resign after the Sugar Bowl."

Bottom line: Good for Georgia. And all that money Florida's raking in, Bernie Machen ain't no dummy.